Organ Donation - Transplants transform lives
To inform you about organ donation and how it affects lives.
Transplants have saved the lives of Stuart Watson and
Aaron Knox both of whom had heart transplants.
Stuart Watson had a heart transplant only this year in 2009 after heart failure due to being born with Transposition of the Great Arteries which is a congenital heart defect. However, some like Lewis do not survive to receive a transplant and this is due to a lack of organ donors.
Here is an extract from his mother, Karen Prior (taken from
The Lewis Prior Foundation)
"Lewis was our son, who we very sadly lost on April 6th 2004, he was in need of an urgent heart transplant. He was just two years and eight months old. Lewis was a happy, brave & special little boy, who we miss a lot. We want him to remain in the memories of those that knew him, and for those that did not meet him, to be told just how very special he was. Colin and Karen's moto is "together we can, make a difference ."
If Lewis had had the transplant he would have had one of the most miraculous achievements of modern medicine but this was not to be.
If Lewis, like Stuart and Aaron had had the transplant he would have been one of the 2,700 to take on a new lease of life in the UK every year. Zoe Chambers was lucky enough to be one of the 2,700 people to have a transplant but unfortunately she only survived 1 more year. Her mother Julie Chambers is a big advocate of organ donation and regularly appears on TV to publicise the matter. (
Link to CHD Angels: A Place of remembrance)
It is not just in the UK where people have tranplants. Stuart was one of 9 per million population in New Zealand and Aaron was one of 14.8 per million population in Canada. The New Zealand statistics are from 2007. The Canadian statistics are from 2008. Another way of reading statistics is that in New Zealand in 2008 there were 183 total transplants, of which 107 came from
deceased donors and In Canada in 2008 there were 2083 transplants of which
1541 were from deceased donors.
Stuart was in organ failure so his transplant was one of the best possible treatment for organ failure.
Kidney transplants are the most commonly performed. Transplants of the heart, liver and lungs are also regularly carried out. As medicine advances, other vital organs including the pancreas and small bowel are also being used in transplants. Tissue such as corneas, heart valves, skin and bone can also be donated.
The increasing effectiveness of transplantation means that many more patients can be considered for treatment in this way but there is a serious shortage of donors as Colin and Karen Prior found out (
Lewis on the CHD Angels: A place to remembrance page).
For some people this means waiting, sometime for years, and undergoing difficult and stressful treatment. For all too many it means they will die before a suitable organ becomes available.
The UK Transplant organisation is committed to saving or dramatically improving many more lives by increasing the number of organs available for donation.
Why don't you register on your national organ transplant list, you may help save not just one life but many others.
Statistics for the UK from April 2009* 378 people have donated organs* an additional 854 people have donated corneas* 1,146 people have received the gift of sight* 1,068 people have received transplants* 8,097 people are still waiting for transplantsTo register/sign up - click the Signed up yet image below or click on this link: Registration Form